Human hepatitis B virus (HBV) belongs to a family of hepadnaviruses which replicate via the reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate, the pregenome. HBV infection represents a major worldwide human health problem. It causes acute, chronic hepatitis and the infection has been linked with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in humans. An understanding of the biology of HBV has been severely limited due to its narrow host range and the inability to propagate in in vitro. The earliest consequence of HBV infection is the occurrence of acute phase of viral hepatitis B. This results in elevated levels of liver enzymes. In this study, our basic inquiry relates to whether HBV X gene product is responsible for the transcriptional activation of acute phase genes of the liver. Studies are proposed here to investigate in detail the mechanism of acute viral hepatitis resulting from HBV infections. In this pilot feasibility project we propose to study the acute-phase of viral hepatitis by investigating the role HBV genes, with particular emphasis on X gene product in the transcriptional activation of acute-phase genes in the liver.